The Virtues' Magecraft

Page 26: Sudden Separation

The darkness around them dissipated. For a moment, all their view consisted of was the pale purple sky. Nothing above, nothing below.

That was the scary part. The below. Because even with nothing, there was still the ground. More than 50 meters away.

"Oh, my God," Alexander muttered.

"Oh, God!" Anastasia cried.

And with that momentary lapse of existence, they began to fall.

"Don't panic!" he shouted in return.

Anastasia screeched.

And from there, in the face of certain death, Hjálmarr was the only one to maintain a cool head. Well... He was the only one that tried to.

Anastasia's brain had simply turned off. Alexander clenched his jaw in panic.

As for Hjálmarr... 'Think!' he urged himself. He took in a sharp breath and shut his eyes.

'Slow down.' That's what he commanded himself. 'Think. You have the rest of your life, so might as well take it slow, right?'

'Okay. Assume you've already survived. This is nothing more than a story. That's right. A story you're telling your parents or future kids. So how does it end? Hmm... Started falling from a ridiculous height. Certain death. You wanna know how I survived? Well, me too.'

His thoughts continued, 'So the first rule of dying is: don't die. Go deeper into your own consciousness and think. What solution did you manage to come up with? How'd you overcome such odds? Those are good questions to be answered. And right now... I'm going to explain how I survived. I already know this is going to be brilliant.'

Time passed: 0.2 seconds.

Hjálmarr's eyes burst open. He clasped his hands together and began mumbling to himself, once again shutting his eyes.

Alexander turned to Hjálmarr. He was praying, wasn't he?

And with that, Hjálmarr opened his eyes. A thin smile crept onto his lips. "Done!" he shouted. "The incantation! It's ready, my liege!"

"Huh?!"

Hjálmarr thrust his hand downward. "With the blessing of the gods! I call upon the Eastern Winds!"

Nothing happened. Nothing except for Hjálmarr's face beginning to contort with panic.

"Huh?!" Alexander repeated in his confusion.

"Uh..." he nervously mumbled. "We- Western Winds!" he cried, once again, slamming his hands downward.

Nothing happened. And Anastasia was still screeching.

"Um..." the elf repeated, his voice more and more desperate. "The sun! Where's the sun?!" Hjálmarr shouted, turning and spinning in search of it.

His eyes widened as he stared at the golden orb. "So that's..."

"Yes!" he finally shouted, once again, driving his hands downward. "Southern Winds!"

And with that...

They stopped falling.

Hjálmarr and Anastasia and Alexander simply hovered just a meter or two off of the ground. The sudden force that caught them quickly let them go.

Again, Alexander fell face first.

The others fell to their knees.

And with that, they were silent. It wasn't like there was much to say. All they could do was exist. Just... be alive.